Roscoe R. "Ike" Robinson, a 1954 graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, received his early training in nephrology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. After further training at Duke University Medical Center, he entered military service with the U.S. Air Force in 1958 and was chief of the renal unit at Wilford Hall U.S.A.F. Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. After discharge from the Air Force, Dr. Robinson returned to Duke where he was an associate in medicine and a clinical investigator at the affiliated Veterans Administration Hospital. He was made director of the Division of Nephrology at Duke in 1962 and served in this capacity through 1980. While at Duke, he continued to advance up the academic ladder and in 1978 was appointed Florence McAlister Professor of Medicine. During 1976-1981, he served as associate vice-president of Duke University Medical Center and chief executive officer of the Duke University Hospitals.

In 1981, Dr. Robinson was appointed vice-chancellor for health affairs and professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. At Vanderbilt Dr. Robinson encouraged the development of strong, nationally known divisions of nephrology in both the Department of Medicine and the Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Robinson served on the Medical Advisory Board of the Kidney Foundation for North Carolina, on the Artificial Kidney-Chronic Uremia Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health, and on the Council for End-Stage Renal Disease for Region 21 of the United States. He was appointed chairman of the Intersociety Planning Committee for Kidney Reasearch in 1980. He served on the National Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health. He was also the founding editor of Kidney International and a member of the editorial boards for Seminars in Nephrology and Prevention of Kidney and Urinary Tract Disease.

Dr. Robinson was the author of some 139 primary publications in the medical literature, virtually all of which are related to renal physiology and renal disease. Many represent pioneer contributions.

In 1996 The Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Chair in Nephrology was established and endowed by colleagues and friends of Dr. and Mrs. Robinson. It was established to honor Dr. Robinson for his leadership of and contributions to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and to the discipline of nephrology.

Dr. Roscoe Robinson passed away on August 7, 2004.